


The Sorting

by leviosaphoenix



Series: all i know since yesterday [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 04:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3195647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviosaphoenix/pseuds/leviosaphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver's year level is sorted, but it doesn't go quite how he expects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sorting

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the second piece to what I've affectionately dubbed my Flarrowy Potter AU. Please note I'm posting each part as an individual oneshot, so you will need to subscribe to the series 'all i know since yesterday' to receive notifications. Not sure how frequent updates will be as I've been writing parts out of order and need to fill in the bits in between. Enjoy!
> 
> *The Sorting Hat song is from the books; I tried and failed to write my own.*

The first-years pile into the Great Hall, the deafening noise of people chatting and chairs scraping dulling to silence. Oliver swallows nervously, glancing at his best friend out of the corner of his eye, and he’s relieved to see that Tommy looks equally worried. On his other side, their usually unflappable childhood friend Laurel is chewing her fingernails. A tattered, crumpled hat rests on a wooden stool in front of them, and as they watch, a few people gasp as it opens its crease of a mouth and begins to sing.

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_  
 _But don't judge on what you see,_  
 _I'll eat myself if you can find  
_ _A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_  
 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_  
 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
_ _And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_  
 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_  
 _So try me on and I will tell you  
_ _Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_  
 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_  
 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
_ _Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_  
 _Where they are just and loyal,_  
 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
_ _And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_  
 _if you've a ready mind,_  
 _Where those of wit and learning,  
_ _Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_  
 _You'll make your real friends,_  
 _Those cunning folks use any means  
_ _To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_  
 _And don't get in a flap!_  
 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
_ _For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

“Just a hat?” Tommy whispers, looking relieved. “My cousin told me there’d be a multiple-choice test with two hundred questions.”

A sharp-eyed man with a cane limps heavily forward, studying the list in his hand through his thick glasses.

“Nyssa al-Ghul!”

A girl with dark hair and equally dark eyes steps forward, her expression giving nothing away. A few students, familiar with the surname of one of the most formidable wizards of all time, shuffle away from her as she walks forward with her head held high. She sits on the stool, the man places the Hat on her head, and she’s there for barely three seconds before the Hat declares _‘Slytherin!’_. The table of students dressed in green claps hesitantly as she joins them.

“Even the Slytherins are afraid of her,” Oliver hears Isabel whisper to her redheaded friend, a girl named Carrie.

“Barry Allen!”

“Ravenclaw!”

The table of blue erupts with much more enthusiasm, and the tiny boy smiles as he scurries to join them.

Isabel’s other friend, Helena, is sorted into Slytherin, and a gangly boy called Carter goes to Hufflepuff, the yellow table. Then Amanda Chen becomes the first new Gryffindor and the students dressed in red give the loudest cheer of all.

The amount of time the Hat takes to decide varies, from barely touching Carrie’s head ( _‘Slytherin!’_ ) to a full five minutes for a girl named Shado Fei, who eventually goes to Ravenclaw.

Oliver thinks his fate is decided – every Queen has been a Slytherin, as far back in their ancestors as they can trace. As much as he hopes to wear green and make his parents proud, he hopes in equal measure that he might get to go somewhere else instead. The girl on the train – Felicity – what she had said had struck a chord with him, and he doesn’t want to spent the duration of his school life pretending to agree with people like Isabel Rochev.

Laurel Lance and Theodore Kord both become Ravenclaws, and Tommy turns to Oliver with a frown.

“Damn, I was kind of hoping we’d end up in the same house as Laurel.”

Oliver doesn’t get a chance to answer.

“Thomas Merlyn!”

Tommy walks slowly up to the Hat, and closes his eyes as it deliberates. After a minute or two, the word _‘Gryffindor!’_ rings through the Great Hall, followed by a ripple of surprise. Like the Queen family, the Merlyn name is almost synonymous with Slytherin. Tommy is wide-eyed as he goes to sit next to Lucas Hilton, and Oliver dares to hope that maybe he might not be cut out for Slytherin either.

Another girl is sorted, then it’s Oliver’s turn. He squeezes his eyes shut as he feels it touch his head.

_Ah, a Queen,_ the Hat says inside his mind. _But what’s this? Mmm, yes, I see it… I know where to put you. No question._

Oliver’s heart sinks.

“Gryffindor!” the Hat sings, and again the shock is evident throughout the Hall. Oliver is too busy being relieved, though, so he runs down and practically jumps onto the seat beside Tommy as the next name is called.

“Our dads are going to _kill_ us,” Tommy murmurs under his breath, and Oliver grimaces.

“Felicity Smoak!”

Oliver looks up with interest, seeing the blonde practically shaking as she approaches the stool. She brushes some lint off her skirt, crossing her ankles as she waits for the Hat to decide. Five minutes pass, and Oliver can see her worrying as she shifts and adjusts her glasses for the sixth time. After eight minutes, when Oliver is sure she’s about to burst into tears, the Hat finally declares _‘Ravenclaw!’_ and she jumps down with relief. The other Muggle-born girl, Caitlin Snow, is quick to join her, and the two girls hug.

Iris West (‘ _Hufflepuff_!’) is the last student to be sorted, and then a tall, bald man with kind eyes steps forward, lifting his arms in welcome as his mere presence casts them all into silence.

“Thank you, Professor Wells,” he nods to the man carrying away the Sorting Hat. “Welcome, first-year students, and to everyone else, welcome back. I am Professor Walter Steele, your headmaster.”

He talks briefly about rules and restrictions before smiling and instructing everyone to eat. Oliver looks down and is shocked to realize that the empty plates in front of them have suddenly become piled high with food, and the jugs are full of a strange orange liquid.

“Pumpkin juice,” the older boy beside him says. “Just try it.”

Oliver pours it into the fancy bronze goblet and passes the jug to Tommy.

“I’m John Diggle, but my friends call me Dig.” Oliver notes the firm handshake, and Dig explains. “My father’s in the military. It was a bit of a shock when my mother told him the truth about the boarding school he was sending us to.”

“I’m Oliver, and this is Tommy.”

Dig’s smile is kind and honest. “Welcome to Gryffindor.”

The hall is filled with the sound of people laughing, and cutlery clattering on plates. He has eaten many meals in his life, but none have ever felt quite so… warm. He’s used to the dignified silence of family meals and his father’s boring business conversations at dinner parties. One look at Tommy tells him his friend is thinking the same thing.

When the meal is over, the food vanishes from the plates and Professor Steele dismisses them. Dig offers to show them to the Gryffindor common room, and Oliver accepts. They have to wait for Tommy, though, who’s darted across the Great Hall to talk to Laurel before she leaves.

It appears that the Ravenclaw first-years are to leave together, so Felicity stands awkwardly by with Caitlin and the boy named Barry. Oliver wants to say something to her, but just as he’s working up the courage to speak, Laurel’s friend Joanna pulls her away and the moment is gone.

“What did Laurel say?”

Tommy shrugs. “Not much. She thinks we might have Charms class together.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

Oliver, Tommy, and Laurel had all grown up together in Starling City, along with many of the other students that attended Hogwarts. She’d often been the one to get the boys out of trouble, shaking her head and hiding her smile whenever they’d been scolded.

They follow Dig up through the Grand Staircase, listening to him explain the moving staircases and the small, ugly school poltergeist named Peeves.

“He’s usually pretty harmless, but he likes to target the first-years. Last year, he spilled Murtlap essence along the staircase leading down to the Potions classroom in the dungeon, and a Hufflepuff slipped and broke her leg. You just have to be vigilant.”

“So everything in this castle is basically trying to kill us?” Tommy asks, dryly.

Dig smirks. “Not just in the castle. The Forbidden Forest, too. _Caput Draconis_.”

Oliver blinks at him in confusion, but then notices the portrait of an opera singer in front of them has swung forward to reveal an entryway.

“New common room passwords will be posted on the noticeboard. Your dormitory is up that staircase to the left. You will receive your class schedules tomorrow morning. Do you have any questions?”

Oliver and Tommy shake their heads, and Dig leaves to join a pretty brunette who sits curled up on an armchair in the corner.

“This year is going to be… eventful,” Tommy remarks.

“No kidding.”


End file.
